Learn Japanese Through Anime

How To Say I Love You In Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 19 May 2016 07:30:00 +0000

"I like you" in Japanese

Saying I love you in Japanese is actually a lot harder than you might think. Watch the video above to find out why.

And in the blog post below I’m gonna give you a short break down of all the anime/drama clips used in my video. Don’t worry too much if you don’t understand every little detail about how all this stuff works because I will go over all of it again in future posts and videos. So without further ado here you go…

Video clips

1) J-Drama “Pride” Ep. 6

Aki wo aishiteru

-This ones pretty simple. Her name is Aki. And “wo” is just like “ga” in this case.

2) Kimi ga Nozumu Eien Ep. 1

Suki desu!

-Here she’s simply screaming “Like/Love”, which is totally cool in Japan. Because she followed it with “desu”, this sentence (sentence?) becomes polite. Also in Japanese unlike English you just need a verb to make a sentence complete.

3) Suzuka Ep. 15

Nyugaku shita toki kara zutto suki deshita!

-Yeah, we’ll save this one for another time. You should just be able to see the word “suki" in there.

4) Honey and Clover Ep. 24

Hagu-chan, ore wa kimi ga suki da yo

-Here we have the word “kimi” (you) instead of the name, which is cool and overall makes sense since he just said her name (Hagu-chan).

-Other than that you should recognize the word “ore” (I) from my last Japanese pronouns video and you really don’t have to add this word, but he felt the need to stress that is was him who liked her.

-“Wa” is another (I know… theres quite a few) marker word, and just links “ore” to everything else.

-“Da” makes this sentence more firm, definite or declarative.

-“Yo” is kind of like an phonetic exclamation point.

5) Please Teacher Ep. 6

Sensei ga suki da

-Ok so in case you were doubting what you heard, yes he did say, “teacher” I love you. And if you think that’s gross, there’s a reason I cut the clip where I did. Yeah…

6) Kimi ga Nozumu Eien Ep. 1

ore wa, kimi no koto ga, suki desu

-Alright although this looks like a mouth full, after all the pervious explanations you should be able to understand this one too.

My Skits

1) I love you stomachaches…

Jya, kiru ne~ aishiteru

Jya, iku ne~ aishiteru

Jya, rimokon wo tori ni iku ne~ aishiteru

Jya, toirei ni iku ne~ aishiteru

Jya, achi miru ne~ aishiteru

2) Yuna, I’m a creepy stalker.

Yuna no koto ga suki! Zutto touku kara miteiru, kage kara,tsuyoi sougankyou de… kokuhaku no chaynsu wo matteita

Atashi mo!

3) Who’s Michael?

Yuna ga suki.

Michael ga suki

Michael?

4) I really like cats… Like a lot

Neko ga suki

Neko no koto ga suki

For more tips on how to say I love you in Japanese without getting slapped go check out my newsletter for weekly videos.

I Love You Video Transcript

Hey, Ken Cannon here. So today I’m gonna be teaching you all about how to say “I love you” in Japanese.
The reason for this lesson is the same as my Japanese cuss word video, (Look over and then up) the term I love you is the number one thing people generally search for when learning a new language.
Now saying “I love you” in Japanese is actually much more complicated than in English. Simply because there’s different types of love, and different meanings for each.
So to get started, the literal word for “I love you” in Japanese is aishiteru.
This word contains the notoriously hard to pronounce Japanese syllable, ru, so pay careful attention to that. Most people describe it as a cross between the english roo, doo and loo.
(Pronunciation guide) ai, shi, te, aishite, aishite, ru, ru , ru, aishite, ru, aishiteru. Aishiteru.
Now ai – means love
And shiteru- is the Japanese verb form of “doing”
So basically aishiteru means you're “doing love.” Well, not yet, but hopefully right?
Ok now here's where the big “but” comes in, aishiteru is a very powerful verb, and is used only if you are in an extremely serious relationship, much more serious than the english counterpart requires.
So as you can guess this word is not used very often, in fact, some married couples have never even said this to each other.
So it’s not at all like the english “I love you” which is sometimes said so much it’ll give you a stomachache.
Ok im gonna hang up now… I love you *kiss*
Jya, kiru ne, aishiteru yo*muah*
Ok im gonna go now, I love you. *kiss*
Jya, iku ne, aishiteru *muah*
Ok, im gonna use the bathroom now, I love you *kiss*
Jya, toirei ni iku ne, aishiteru yo*mauh*
Ok Im gonna go grab the remote control, I love you *kiss*
Jya, rimokon wo tori ni iku, aishiteru
Ok Im gonna turn my head now, I love you….. *kiss*
Jya, achi miru ne, aishiteru, **muah
So this is the point where I’d show you some anime examples, but to be honest Ive never even heard this word in anime before. So here’s an example from a J-drama :]
*Pride example*
Now for those of you who aren’t in a 'til “death do you part” relationship, and still want to tell your smooch buddy, or future smooch buddy that you love them and not come off like your creepy obsessed stalker I’ll share with you guys 2 other ways to do so.
But before I do that I want to teach you guys a vital concept/ word in Japan and anime that doesn’t occur in America.
So that concept is…
Kokuhaku! Ko, ku, ha, ku, koku, haku, kokuhaku
Kokuhaku literatly means confession, and is what you call the event of confessing your love to your special someone.
(Pronunciation guide)
Ok the confession of love in Japan is absolutely vital for any relationship to start in Japan. Basically you have to go up to someone and say “I love you!” in the most awkward way you can. No I’m kidding, this act is actually not weird at all unlike it would be in English, and is pretty much the norm.
Yuna…. I love you! I’ve always watched you secretly from afar, in the shadows with high powered binoculars … hoping to get the chance to kokuhaku you.
……
….(creeped out look)
…Me too!
*Cheesy Hug*

Yuna no koto ga suki! Zutto touku kara miteiru, kage kara,tsuyoi sougankyou de… kokuhaku no chaynsu wo matteita

Atashi mo!
Here’s some kokuhaku examples from anime..
(anime clips)
Ok, now that we have that covered, what do you say when we're making our kokuhaku, or just wanna say something a little less serious then aishiteru?
Well the most basic non creepy way is…
“Name” ga suki, ga, su ki, suki, ga suki
So you simply replace the name part with my name.. hah no I'm kidding, of course. You put in the name of your S.B (copyright)
(Pronunciatoin guide)
OK, the word “suki” actually means “to like”. But in Japan this is word you use when your kokuhakuing, and it’s also the word used in most circumstances when you wanna say you love somebody.
Now ga is simply a “marker word” that comes after the name to indicate who or what it is your “suki” is directed towards.
Yuna ga suki.
Atashi, Michael ga suki
eh?
(Michael Phelps video)
As you’ll probably notice, Japanese word order is a bit backwards. Literally, you’re saying, “you, I like”
And as I said in my Japanese Pronouns video, “I” is often omitted as it is in “Name” ga suki.”
(anime clips)
Ok now I’m going to teach you the more proper way to say I Love/Like you.
“Name” no koto ga suki.
Now you’ll notice the difference is the little bit “no koto” this loosely translates to “about”
(Pronunciation guide)
Ok, the reason for this change is that “name ga suki” can sound a bit childish, since it’s so basic. Also “no koto” changes the word “like” into “Like like” as in mmhmm.
(fish on plate)
Sakana ga suki = I like fish
(face to face with fish)
Sakana no koto ga suki = I like you fish….
Koto is a word that means “intangible thing” as in “the idea of” I like, the idea of Yuna.
And "no", is another “marker word” which indicates possession, and links two nouns together. As in the Yuna’S idea, or again the idea OF Yuna.
(anime clips)
Ok, in closing we have.
Aishiteru – 'Til death do we part
Name ga suki – I like you
Name no koto ga suki – I love you

Ok I brushed passed a lot of the vital grammar since this is a youtube video but if you guys wanna see more examples or bunch more S.B related words. Head on over to JTA.com that’s JapaneseThroughAnime.com.
Anyway see you guys next week!
Aishiteru! Japanese - (I love you!)

How To Learn Japanese / My Story

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 07:24:00 +0000

Why I decided to learn Japanese

Like most of you, the main reason I decided to learn Japanese was anime. Watching anime has always been a magnificent escape for me. I loved being able to dive into these awesome fantasy worlds. It all started with Inuyasha. I was 14 and going through a bit of a tough time and the show really helped me cope, and after that it just took off. I watched all the popular shows from Naruto, Bleach, Ranma ½ to the more uncommon, like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and Scrapped Princess. After about a year, I noticed myself picking up some Japanese, mostly small words like “kuso” and “nani” but I was definitely getting it. I found myself wanting to dive deeper into my fantasy worlds; I wanted to understand what my favorite characters were saying without the help of subtitles.

I started like most people, with a few websites and America’s “favorite” language program, Rosetta Stone. However, the websites couldn’t teach me to pronounce the words, let alone capture my attention. And Rosetta stone only frustrated me to no end, trying to figure out what words the pictures were referring to.

From there I jumped to Pimsluers and a little known 1980’s TV show called “Let’s Learn Japanese”. Pimsleur’s gave me the pronunciation I needed and “Let’s Learn Japanese” was actually interesting enough to capture my attention. So armed with my 4 resources I pushed on.

However, for some reason, as I learned all this Japanese my actual comprehension of unsubtitled anime only slightly increased, even after I finished Pimsleur's, Lets Learn JP, half of Rosetta Stone and a number of websites.

I wondered why, but I soon knew the answer. I’d heard it before from all my online studies, that Japanese was a very different language. So different in the fact that it actually has two different versions: a formal and an informal (or casual language). Nearly all of the programs and learning methods teach strictly formal, because casual is understood to be rude if spoken to a non friend or family member.

Well the issue is that most anime almost always uses casual speech! Not only that but the programs I was using taught me words like, book, pen and economics major(?). Words almost never used in anime.

So from there I decided to take matters a bit more into my own hands. I had the basics of the language so I began to teach myself Japanese. I used actual words and sentences from the shows I was watching, developed a way to use the English subtitles as a teaching method, and researched casual Japanese.

After that a miracle happened, learning the hard and difficult Japanese language became fun! I started to do it whenever I had free time, staying up late and waking up early before school just to study Japanese. And my comprehension immediately quadrupled! I loved to learn Japanese from my favorite anime characters.

Within one year I had nearly completely mastered anime Japanese. Raw anime became a reality.

I can’t tell you how much more of an experience watching anime in its original language is. You learn so much more about the characters from just the way they speak. Japanese actually has over 6 ways to say the word “You” each one revealing the unique personality of the character that used it.

I don’t want to drag on but it’s for all these reasons and more that I want to share what I’ve learned! That in fact you can learn Japanese and it’s actually very easy and fun once you get the right method. If you want to get my secrets for learning Japanese subscribe to my newsletter for exclusive weekly content.

Video Transcript

This video is gonna be a little different from my normal ones because as I was going through the survey results I noticed a lot of people asked about how I learned Japanese, or how I learned it so fast etc. And at first I didn’t want to do a video like that since I don’t really want to put the spotlight on me or anything like that, but now I feel that maybe by hearing my story and where I was might reflect a little bit on where some of you are now.

So sorry for you guys who just want to see me dress up like a hideous girl with pigtails.

Ok, so it all started with a crazy passion for anime. I first saw DBZ on Toonami all those years ago, back when I was like 12 and loved it like most boys my age. But it wasn’t until I saw this show called Inuyasha on Adult Swim, Cartoon Network again, and I was like hey, I wonder if I could watch this show online instead of waiting a whole day for a new episode. Now I'm not promoting pirating or anything like that, but in my defense I was a really bad kid. And well, most of the things I did back then should never be repeated. Hah
I found it online; however, it was in this crazy language with English subtitles. I didn’t quite know what I was getting into back then and it was a little weird at first but I just decided to watch it. And I got hooked! Watching in Japanese was so much more awesome than the English. I really felt like I could just escape into this anime fantasy, and god once I did it was like a whole new world opened up to me. I finished the show and moved on to hundreds of other titles, which all pulled me into the stories just as much.

And to be honest it was what I needed at the time.

My parents were divorced since I was a kid and my dad made it kind of a habit to move in with a new girlfriend every year or so, most times in a new city, so you know the old girlfriend wouldn’t find him. So once he did I had to change schools, and at that time I had probably been to about 7 different schools, not kidding. Which as you might guess made me kind of socially awkward, I didn’t really have a lot of friends. And also being super poor, my family couldn’t afford to buy me normal clothes like most of the other kids, so it was kinda common for me to get teased because my pants, high waters, were too high, cause I grew too fast. And I was not a stellar student; in fact one year I got straights F’s and one D, that was an accomplishment, not easy to do mind you. And so incidentally my parents sort of hated me, so the home life kinda sucked too.

It got so bad I actually developed an anxiety disorder, called social phobia. Yeah it exists. Which basically means you're scared to go outside and stuff. But right around that time, I found anime and wow, it was like a present from Jesus. Haha. I loved it, I could totally forget about all my problems at home and school and just dive in.

Now after watching for about a year, I started to get frustrated with the subtitles. It was always in the way of the show and it was really annoying to “read” my anime. Not only that but I started to become obsessed with Japan, and everything Japanese. Jpop, japense video games, j –drama, Japanese music, culture, all of it. It felt like I was Japanese in a past life or something. So I wanted to go there, really badly, and live there even.

Of course all of this requires knowing Japanese. So I set out to tackle this thing. I started with Rosetta Stone. And while it was a very nice looking program and all, and in the beginning in was cool, matching the pictures with words, the program started to get into sentences, not just one word stuff. I found myself frustrated to no end trying to guess what exactly in the pictures they show you the words are referring to.

So I gave up with that one, about a quarter way in.

Fortunately I found a copy of Pimsleur’s Japanese at the local library. And it too was pretty cool in the beginning but as I progressed I found that it was like I was being constructed sentences, with no regard for grammar so I could ever form my own sentences.After I finished the first 15 lessons. (half of program again) I decided it was time to move on.

So I did some research and found out about a old tv show called, Let's Learn Japanese basic. And it was great, despite its oldness and corniness. Compared to the last two things I tried anyway. However, after finishing up their first program I noticed my Japanese wasn’t really improving. What I mean is, I would learn these sentences and words and grammar points and I would go back to anime or Japanese TV and manga, and I couldn't understand a thing.

So basically I got fed up, and I decided to take things into my own hands. I found out that Japanese actually has two different types of talking, formal and casual. And what most programs teach is formal and anime and what people use in everyday conversation is casual. Also the vocabulary they teach are things like book and pen and economics major? Now of course they do this because they want adult gaijin (foreigners) who come to japan to be able to speak politely. And when your learning in a school they want you to know school related stuff.

However, I knew there had to be a better way. I decided to teach myself casual Japanese, and anime/casual related words. So at the time I was watching Naruto, and I wanted to know, what were the most common words used in Naruto from the top down, so I could teach myself Japanese with the show. So I actually spent 2 months search for manga transcripts of the show, from there I would take them and run word frequency analysis on them and chart the words in order of appearance. What I came up with were the 300 most common words in Naruto. So instead of learning arbitrary words choosen in who knows what manner, I went down the list with a dictionary and google search as my friend, and focused my learning that way.

Another thing I did was was read a little book called “Remembering the Kanji.” It's an amazing book that will teach you all two thousand Kanji in a matter of months. If you want to know more about it I review "Remembering the Kanji" on my blog. But in the book, it heavily used the concept of mnemonic devices, crazy stories in order for you to remember the characters better, and it's truly amazing.

But I thought hey, why not use that with words instead of just characters. So I applied that to every single new word I learned of my list of 300. In addition to this I came up with 2 dozen little techniques that helped me learn Japanese by myself.

Now after this, absolutely miraculous things started to happen. I went from spending hours a day with Pimsleur’s and Rosetta and LLJB, to with an hour a day literally within a month starting to understand anime, and within one year, fully mastering all of the basics of the language. I can say that with confindence, because at the end of that year I went to Japan and it was every bit as much bliss as I thought it would be. Not only that but I had native speakers constantly completely astounded at how good my Japanese was. And after they asked how long I'd been studying for, and I told them a year they would pretty much pee themselves. It was great.

I would also say to you that learning a language like that, especially your dream language and mastering it has immense effects on your confidence. You might be oh yeah sure, but when I came back from Japan, I was able to overcome my social phobia and not only that but become a midly popular guy. Which of course made me happy and my grades went up. I even got into UCLA, one of the top universities in California.

This whole thing is of course why I started this YouTube channel. To help people like you and me master Japanese, knock out those nasty subtitles and go to Japan to have the time of your life. However, on my newsletter over at my website I’ve been getting tons of people who want me to make something a little more. So after much correction and motivation by you guys, mostly because I really don’t consider myself a good teacher, somewhat reluctantly I’ve decided to give it a shot.

And I have since started working on a full length beginner video course. Using my list of 300 words from back then and over 2 dozen other secret techniques I discovered that shoot my Japanese learning through the roof. So If you wanna stay more updated on that you can join my newsletter over at my website.

But in any event, I would say if you have any hesitations in learning the language, don’t. It is without a doubt every bit as awesome as you think it will be. And if someone like me can learn Japanese, anyone can. Don’t give up and keep moving forward. Learning Japanese is possible.

That’s all for this video, and I’ll see you next time for more videos on how to learn Japanese.

Chikan - How To Be A Pervert In Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 23:02:00 +0000

A Closet Chikan?

I was invited to be a guest sensei on Victor's channel, and I'm here to teach you all the wonderful skill of how to be a pervert in Japan. Skip ahead to 1:10 to avoid the intro :]

I also wanted to share a few pics I had to take down from my video because of some copyright issues with YouTube. They're such Prima-donnas...

Shitagi Dorobou (Panty Thief)

Washington Man arrested for stealing thousands of panties and bras...

Notice how this kind of thing is BIG news in America. "How unheard of!" they say. In Japan, this guy could be your neighbor, your friend, or your Sunday school teacher... all at the same time. No big deal...

Chikan (Train Groper)

Reading the comments on the video, no one could believe that this stuff actually happens and the girls don't do anything about it, or the chikan. What's even more surprising is that the other guys on the train, watching the chikan, don't even do anything! If this kind of thing went down in America, EVERYONE would get up and beat the shit out of this chikan guy. Crazy...

The chikan theme is also very popular in porn... that's what I've "heard" of course...

Rabu Hoteru (Love Hotel)

I read an amazing figure the other day! 1.4 million people in Japan, in other words, 2% of Japan's POPULATION go to a love hotel EVERYDAY! That's some big business...

Check out the bottom left room, chikan training room...

Meido Kafe (Maid Cafe)

This one's my personal favorite, I tell my girlfriend to act more like a maid cafe waitress everyday, still can't figure out why it's not working... Maybe she needs the uniform...

What do you think about all this funny business? For more perverted stuff that grosses you out, turns you on, or makes you wanna dance, come to my newsletter.

Video Transcript

How’s it going? My name's Ken Cannon and at the slight risk of never being invited to appear on Victor’s channel again, I’m gonna be talking to you about how to be a pervert in Japan.

Many of you may have heard the generalization that “Japan is a country of perverts!” And well I’m here to tell you that it's true! But I’m also here to tell you that so is every country in the world. Japan just has some particularly interesting ways of being perverted.

(Peeping toms are so yesterday.)

So without further ado, I bring you 1^st way to be a pervert in Japan.

And that is, shitagi dorobo! Literally panty thief.

(pronunciation guide)

Ok so shitagi means underwear, but more specifically, women’s underwear. It used to be used to refer to the undershirt of a samurai, you find the connection,

and dorobo simply means thief.

Now surprisingly this act is pretty common in Japan.

itikimasu

Anata, doko ni iku no?

A, shitagi dorobo ni iku

Ah so, kiosukete nee

Hai~

Kyaaa! Dare!, kimaten desho.. shitagi dorobo.

Ah!!.. ah sou ka…

So how this works, a male typically sneaks into the house of an adult woman, walks past the expensive stereo system, her thousands of dollars of jewelry to find her dresser, steal her underwear…. And then walk back past the expensive jewelry, her fancy stereo system... and leaves

What they do with the underwear after is a little beyond the scope of this lesson…

*drinking coffee*

Oh hey do you have any napkins??

Yeah here ya go..

*hands him a panty*

Alright! On to how to be a pervert in Japan Tactic 2!

Chikan!

Now this is one you might have heard of if you’ve ever riding a train in Japan, or maybe you’re even more familiar with it than I think…

Anywho, chikan means molester but is more commonly used to refer train groper.

(Pronunciation guide)

Now as I said this term is mostly used to refer to train gropers. Now what that more specifically means is that a man will get on a train look for a nice obedient looking gropee, and go to work!

*Awkard grope*

*giant sheman turns around*

*ah…*

Now as many of you potential chikans may be saying, well, “I tried that one day on the train and I got groped back with a giant kick in the balls”

The thing is that is in Japan women, and most men as well, don’t like to cause trouble so they typically don’t say anything.

*awkard grope*

*giant she man looks up and just shrugs*

*hehehehe*

Apparently this problem is actually so prevelant in Japan that they have recently created girls only trains.

*Bajillions of giant shemales board train*

OK, now what if you’re just a regular old pervert like the rest of us and just want a place you can go to fulfill all your pervy needs. Well Japan has just the places for you. 2 in fact!

Number 1 pervy place.

rabu hoteru, literally “love hotel”

(Pronunciation guide)

Now love hotels are something that occur in a few other countries as well, even America has a no tell motel? But never has a country perfected this art as much as Japan.

Now I say art, because well there's really no other word to describe the inside of these rooms, besides monstrosity of course. In general they range from Hello Kitty heart covered dungeons to underwater racetracks for Martians…

Ahh kawaaii! Nani sore??

Oh omiyage

Hee omiyage ne, doko kara?

Ahh,, ettoo…. Roshia?

So what you do when you wanna get yourself a hotel full of love is you find these rather discrete apartment looking places, go in pay the person behind the frosted glass for a “rest” period ranging anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, denpending on your stamina, and enjoy =)

Ok! Were at my place now! =D heheh…

Is this really your apartment?

Sou yo..

Why does it say “Hotpassion” there…?

Oh well, you know, I’m from America, we have strange last names… don’t worry, come lets go…

OK and the 2^nd pervy place and the last concept/word for this video is..

Meido kafe, in english, maid café!

(pronunciation guide)

Maid cafes are essentially otaku fantasy centered cafés where all of the waitresses dress up in French maid uniforms and treat their customers like masters.

In fact instead of hello, or hi, they greet all of their customers with a friendly, okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama!

(Pictures of maid cafes)

The menus of maid cafés are usually the same as most café’s but with the twist of everything being cutified. i.e smilley face omlettes ect.

Maid delivers omlets

I look down with a surprised awkward look.

And the omelet has a picture of victor on it.

Other typical courtesies of maid cafes are, spoon feeding, neck massages, and even ear cleanings (clips of me getting these things)

To recap, how to be a pervert in Japan step 1.

Steal some panties.

Step 2.

Grab some train booty.

Step 3.

Get some love at a hotel.

And Step 4

Go get your ears cleaned.

Alright I just want to thank Victor for letting me appear on his channel, probably for the last time. And most of all, you, the potential pervert, for making our world a better place.

Laters

Disclaimer : Ken Cannon should never be listened to at any time, for any reason, what so ever. Please do not become a pervert, or go to japan… ever… thank you.

Japanese Pronunciation

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 20:27:00 +0000

Getting the perfect Japanese accent is as easy as...

Perfecting your Japanese pronounciation is like saying "Diju go dada store."

I was doing some tutoring work the other day, and I was trying to correct one of my student’s accents to make it sound more natural. Now keep in mind this is one of those bastard genius students that everybody secretly loves to hate because they learn everything twice as fast. (I’m just kidding of course I love her...)

But I couldn’t quite get it right, even though she was such a good student. That is until I had this little revelation. When you speak in English, do you enunciate every single syllable? I mean, even if you’re one of those people that do pride yourself in your speech, if you’re honest, I’d hallucinate that you really don’t. Because it just sounds weird when you talk to people like that.

It’s not natural, and frankly it’s more work too. And I hate work, so as you can imagine I’m one of the worst enunciators in the world. But, I sound like a native English speaker, probably cause I am, I think... But I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact I don’t enunciate everything. I don’t say words the way they are written. (Big key when learning Japanese!)

Now this might be influenced from slang, and if you’re British or something then you probably already think I talk like an idiot anyway and really shouldn't be encouraging it.

But if you look at the first sentence of this post, yes the one that looks like I fell asleep in spelling class.. which of course I did, just don't tell anyone… you’ll see the way you pronounce, “did you go to the store?”, is a lot closer to “diju go dada store” if you’re speaking at normal speed in the middle of a conversation.

Now of course like I said in the beginning there are always exceptions, so you don’t need to get mad and throw rocks and stuff at me for it. But once I tried explaining this to my student, her Japanese pronunciation improved immediately.

Instead of trying to say “Ore wa shinobi da” just like it’s written.

(I’m a ninja)

Try meshing the 4 words together a little bit more. Think of the whole sentence as being one big word instead of 4 individual ones.

If you get really close it should sound a little closer to something like.

Orea shnobi da

Let’s try another

Yatsu wa baka da yo

(He’s an idiot.)

If you mesh it together good enough, and don’t just try to say the whole thing really fast. Of course when you try this, the speed of the sentence does increase, but that’s not the only dynamic that occurs.

It should sound a little something like this…

Yatsa baka dao

Well I hope that helps your pronunciation a bit. For more methods of improving your Japanese pronunciation and other pieces of advice subscribe to my newsletter.

Japanese San, Chan, Sama, Sensei, Kun

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 01:32:00 +0000

Ken-san, sensei or sama?

So sorry for the delay guys but here's a new video on anime suffixes or "honorifics."

If you enjoyed that anime suffixes video subscribe to my newsletter for exclusive weekly Japanese videos!

Anime Suffixes Video Transcript

Hey everybody, as usual I’m Ken Cannon, and today I’m gonna be teaching you guys the most common Japanese anime suffixes.
This is of course to offset a little bit of what I taught you guys last week. The Top Ten Anime Cuss words! Aka. How to be a dick head in Japanese!
Hopefully this video will add some politeness to your Japanese vocabulary, so you can thoroughly de- dickhead yourself.
Now most of you, if you’ve been watching anime for 5 minutes, are familiar with what these are. In technical jargon, there called honorifics.
And for you guys I’m gonna to try to include a bit more of detail on how the word is actually used, and hopefully some stuff you didn’t know.
But for the rest of you anime noobs, Japanese suffixes or honorifics are little titles stuck to the back of a name. In other words, I would be known as Ken-sensei. Although that makes me sound old and gross, so please don’t call me that. J
Alright! Getting started!
With the most common Japanese suffix
-San
"San" is often equated to the English Mr. or Mrs. But here no one really uses those terms unless you’re old and balding so I find that translation rather inaccurate. However the meaning is correct, in that it’s mainly used for adults, and as a sign of respect for people you don’t know very well.
(Pronunciation guide)
In Japanese "san" is the defacto, so if you don’t know what to call someone, "san" is usually the way to go.
(man dressed in womens clothing)
Konichiwa desu! Sakura to moshimasu!
Konichiwa… sakura…san
With "san," make sure you never refer to yourself with it, because it’s a symbol of respect. It would kinda sound like you're worshiping yourself.
(Naruto clips)
Now the rule of thumb on when you become a "–san" (i.e. graduate from some of the other suffixs I’m going to teach you). For girls it happens when you graduate middles school or junior high, and boys, after graduating high school.
And yes the implication here is maturity.
Okay! Moving on to the next commonly used honorific
-chan!
This suffix is actually more common than "-san" in anime, and is used as an expression of endearment, so as you might guess, it’s the default for young children and girls.
(Pronunciation guide)
You can also use this term if you a sexist old bastard and want to pick up on younger women.
Ne, ne ojou-chan, ima kara doko ka, ikanai?
(man dressed in women’s clothing)
This phrase is also commonly used when referring to pets or animals..
Gomen ne neko-chan… oven wa atsukatta?
So if you’re a guy older than 12 and someone calls you this, it might be a good time to use your newly learned “Temee.”
(Naruto clips)
Ok, the next commonly used suffix is,
-Sensei!
This suffix in it’s root, means teacher.
(pronunciation guide)
However something that sets this suffix apart, is that while "–san" and "–chan" must be attached to the back of a name, you can use "sensei" by itself.
As a pronoun of sorts
Now "sensei" doesn’t mean just “teacher” , it can also used when referring to doctors, poets and evem manga artists or manga- ka. Basically you can use "sensei" to pretty much refer to anybody with a certain level of mastery in a subject.
Sensei! Anata no toenail clipping skills wa saiko desu!
And here’s some examples from Naruto.
(naruto clips)
Okay on to suffix number 4
-sama
This honrific is used a lot more in anime than in actual real life. And it’s used to show extreme respect for someone.
(Pronunciation guide)
Now as I said this phrase is a lot more popular in anime than in real life, most likely because you can sometimes equate this suffix to (king). And in Anime there are a lot more kings and queens than in real life… besides me of course.
“temeera ore nit suite koi”
(man in womens clothing)
“hai! Ken-sama!”
Now in Real life this phrase is most often heard when referring to customers of a business, as in okyaku-sama.
Other uses like I mentioned above would be when referring to actual kings or presidents, Obama-sama?
(Naruto clips)
Alright and the last honorific for today’s lesson is!
-Kun!
This is used mainly for younger males
(pronunciation guide)
Now like I said boys generally graduate this term until college, but it’s also pretty common for a boss to call an employee "-kun" no matter his age. Basically you use it for male younger or lower than you in status.
George Bush – kun?
"-Kun" can also be used by girls on a guy they’ve known for a while or are particularly fond of.
“Ken-kun ttara!”
And here’s some examples from naruto.
(Naruto clips)
Now to do a little recap…
San, the defacto
Chan, for little ones
Sensei, for teachers
Sama, for kings
And Kun, for boys
Alright! As a side note really just want to thank everybody for all your comments, subscriptions and wonderful encouragement you guys have given me this past month. And I know I went on a bit of a hiatus for about 3 weeks.
My brother actually came to visit me from out of state so I really wanted to maximize the amount of time I had with him. So sorry. But I’m back in my groove again so please subscribe if you liked the honorifics video and I’ll see you guys next week!

Japanese Swear Words

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 21:38:00 +0000

Learn to Swear in Japanese

For my first video, or the first half anyways, I want to teach the top ten most common Japanese anime swear words!

To learn more Japanese swear words head over to my newsletter.

Swear Words Video Transcript

Hey my name's Ken Cannon and I’m gonna be teaching you guys the top 10 most common Japanese swear words, with a little help from the popular Japanese anime Naruto.
But before I get started I should note that Japanese, unlike English, is a lot less colorful in its word choices. So most of the words I’m going to be teaching are ones that when translated to English come out as swear words, but wouldn’t be categorized in Japan as swear words per se.
That being said, if you used these words around the house your mama would probably still slap you.
Alright let’s get started,
Swear word number 1! And the most commonly used swear word in most anime is
Kuso
Which literately means shit, or feces, or caca, or poopoo booboo whatever you like to call your droppings.
I'll repeat it a few time so you can get the pronunciation down.
(pronunciation guide)
Kuso is also used mainly as an exclamatory. For example...
Kuso! AA no kaigi ni okurechau
Or
kuso! onara shichatta
Or
Kuso! Neko wo Ouben ni wasurechatta
Etc.
Maybe it'd be better if you saw how it’s used in Naruto…
(Naruto clips)
And there you go. However one way kuso is not used is when in subsitution for the word “stuff”
In other words, in English it’s common for us to say things like...
“I left my shit at home” or “that’s some cool shit” but kuso unfortunately does not carry the same meaning.
Alright now on to the swear word number 2
Chikusho
the swear word Chikushou is more or less translated to “Damn It!” or “Fuck!”
(Pronunciation guide)
Chikushou like kuso is also used mainly as an exclamatory. But unlike kuso it carries a stronger connotation. So you’d use it in a more dire situation.
For example...
“Chikushou! Chirigami ga nai!”
Or
“Chikushou! myutsu ga nigeta?!”
Here’s some more useful examples..
(Naruto clips)
And that’s that, again though chikushou is only used as an exclamatory. So don’t walk up to your
Girlfriend and ask her if she wants to chikushou.. doesn’t work that way. (Actually I hope you don’t do that in English either...)
On to swear word number 3...
Baka
One of the more popular Japanese words for some reason. The swear word Baka means “stupid” or “idiot”
(Pronunciation guide)
You can use baka in pretty much the same way you would in English.
“Baka! Sore wa ringo juusu jai nai!”
On that note...
(Naruto clips)
Alright! swear word number 4!
Temee
In actuality the swear word “Temee” really is just a severely rude way to say “you” but it is usually translated to “you bastard” or “you bitch” because of its connotation.
(Pronunciation guide)
This phrase is also very popular amongst angry drunk old dudes for some reason.
But anyway it's quite useful for misunderstandings...
“Temee! Cosmo no koudoku hoshikunai tte ba! “
But in general you can use it whenever you address your bitches or bastards.
“Temmera! Ore ni tsuite koi!”
Temeera is simply the plural version of temee
Remember to use temee only as a pronoun.
swear word number 5!
Yarou!
Yarou is often translated to “bastard” but unlike “temee” it’s used as a noun not a pronoun
(Pronunciation guide)
The Swear word Yarou literately means farm hand.. Because you know how those farm hands are all bastards.
Here's an example of how it differs from temee.
“temee! Omae wa nanto baka yarou da!” (Zoom in on teddy bear)
Now if you were really paying attention you noticed I used the phrase “baka yarou” in that last example
With the word yarou you can attach other nasty words to make even nastier words.
Such as “baka yarou” and even “kuso yarou”
Tune in for Part 2 to learn the final 5 Japanese swear words!

Japanese Through Anime Pre-release Class Registration

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 20:03:00 +0000

Anime Vocabulary

150 Mnemonic Stories

Audio Lessons

Japanese Grammar

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2/16/12 EDIT: If you didn't make it into the class!

Simply sign up for my newsletter with your email address, and I will send you information regarding the next release of the Japanese Through Anime course! :)

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Hey, so glad you decided to stop by and help me out, I really appreciate it. Now, I won’t go into too much detail about the course because frankly that’s what the 30 day free trial is for. But some main points are…

What you’re getting.

-A 45 page textbook that includes summaries of all the lessons, hundreds of exercises and as little homework as possible. ;)

-My complete list of the 300 most common words in anime.

-My complete list of 150 mnemonics stories that go along with each of the most common words.

-An hour long video lesson every single week with me walking you step by step through every single vocabulary word, mnemonic story, all of Japanese grammar, and hundreds of examples.

-A half hour long audio lesson every single week that corresponds to each and every video lesson.

-150 printable mnemonic enhanced flashcards.

-A private email address that pops up right on my phone to ensure I will always be only a couple minutes away from answering your questions.

-15 of my best techniques for learning Japanese through anime. (P.S. - these are the real golden nuggets that allowed me to learn Japanese with lightning like speed.)

-Forever access to all of the content, including all the updates I make, meaning you can review and go at your own pace as much as you like, whenever you like.

What’s it all gonna do for you.

If you follow everything in the course, I promise to help you shave at least 2 years off your Japanese learning career. In other words, you’ll be able to learn at least 90% of conversational Japanese in less than one year. How do you like them ringos (apples)?

So what should you do?

Simply click the “Subscribe” button below, and fill in your paypal or credit card info.

Remember, I only have about 100 spots so if you’re ready to really master conversational Japanese then please click the “subscribe” button below now.

After you sign up for the course you will get an email (to the address in your paypal account or the one you used when you signed up) from me explaining how the membership site will work. And then after that I’ll be sending you your first lesson. :)

And if you have any other questions, feel free to email me at KenCannon@JapaneseThroughAnime.com

------------

2/16/12 EDIT: If you didn't make it into the class!

Simply sign up for my newsletter with your email address, and I will send you information regarding the next release of the Japanese Through Anime course! :)

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How to Read Japanese - Master the 4 Writing Styles

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 02:20:00 +0000

How to Read Japanese

If learning to read in English wasn't tough enough, learning to read Japanese can possibly be even more daunting because they actually have 4 different writing styles: Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, and Romaji. The typical Japanese learner starts off learning Hiragana, followed by Katakana and then the most daunting of all, Kanji.

1. Hiragana: a rounded and curvy looking alphabet consisting of 46 characters used mainly for Japanese words

Hiragana is phonetic, so once you learn the 46 characters you will be able to sound out and read most anything. However, a word to the wise, there are no spaces between words so it does take a while to get used to it. Keep reading and you'll eventually get the hang of it.

The reason most people start with Hiragana is because the majority of Japanese is written in this style. It is also commonly used for furigana, which are characters on top of Kanji to help you determine how to pronounce them.

And as overrated as it sounds, flashcards really help. Put the Japanese character on one side and the English pronunciation on the other and practice, practice, practice!

Read some manga! Most manga have furigana so you can read them without knowing Kanji, and the pictures will also help you quickly decipher the meanings.

2. Katakana: a more square looking alphabet also consisting of 46 characters used mostly for foreign words

Katakana is both the same and the opposite of Hiragana at the same time. There are still 46 phonetic characters that represent the exact same syllables as Hiragana, but the characters are completely different.

Katakana is most commonly found in restaurants and electronic stores so it's not as prevalent as Hiragana.

Hiragana and Katakana can usually be mastered in a few weeks, so it's perfect for those just learning to read Japanese.

Children's books are perfect for beginners! They are mostly written in kana, both Hiragana and Katakana characters, with very little Kanji so it can be read easily once you've learned the alphabets.

3. Kanji: borrowed Chinese characters

The reason Kanji is so daunting to most people is because it is not phonetic and instead relies on symbols and images to derive it's meaning.

On average about 2000 Kanji characters are used regularly in the Japanese language. However, don't let that daunt you! It turns out if you study the most 1000 commonly used characters you will be able to achieve a 93% comprehension rate.

The important thing here is to focus on the Kanji that are most commonly used http://www.tidraso.co.uk/kanji_frequency.html and your reading ability will skyrocket!

There are two different readings for Kanji: a Japanese reading, kunyomi, and a Chinese reading, onyomi. Usually kun readings are written in Hiragana, for native words, and on readings are written in katakana, since it's borrowed.

Since Kanji is a logographic writing system, it may help to find some pictures in the character or come up with a story or a little mnemonic device about the character and it's meaning to help you remember the Kanji.

The best place to practice reading Japanese is online! There are several helpful internet apps that help instantly translate and provide definitions of Japanese characters that make reading that much easier. It's like having a Kanji dictionary at your fingertips!

4. Romaji: words written in the Western alphabet

Romaji is the fastest way to learn to read and understand what the Japanese language sounds like. It provides a huge initial boost for beginners to read Japanese.

However, since the pronunciation is Westernized, reading Romaji will not help achieve a great Japanese accent. In addition, very few Japanese people use Romaji. It's mostly used when Japanese people are trying to communicate with foreigners.

Japanese can be a very tricky and difficult language to read since it's so radically different from our English alphabet. However, these tips and tricks will help you cut down your learning time and propel you to becoming literate in record time. To see how I personally learned Japanese in less than 1 year, download this free video: How to Learn Fluent Japanese

Japanese Swear Words 2 [Podcast]

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:18:00 +0000

Japanese Swearing pod 2!

Ok and here's part 2! Of our lovely swear words Japanese podcast. Hope you enjoy, and please don't get yourself beat up.

Episode 2: Japanese Swear words 2

www.japanesethroughanimeclass.com/japanese-swear-words-2.mp3

Japanese Swear Words [Podcast]

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 04:56:00 +0000

Japanese Swear words, podcast edition!

Hey! After being requested a few times I've decided to make my videos available for download as Podcasts as well!, So you can learn some Japanese even when you're on the go.

So here's episode 1: Japanese Swear words
www.japanesethroughanimeclass.com/japanese-swear-words.mp3

How to get to Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:16:00 +0000

Talking about how to get to Japan

This week its another sample from my Japanese video newsletter, How to get to Japan!

In this sample of the new video series "What it's REALLY like in Japan!" I show you exactly how to go to Japan, via raw video! So whether you want to live in Japan, travel there, or just visit the country, this is the exactly what its gonna be like.

And if you want more free video on how to get to Japan, go ahead and join my weekly video Learn Japanese Newsletter.

Kansai ben - Japanese Dialects

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:42:00 +0000

I think Kansai ben look better in HD than I do..

This week we have a sample from my video newsletter, Kansai ben (or dialect) part 2.

To see Kansai ben part 1 or get lots more like it every week sign up for my Japanese Video Newsletter.

Kansai ben Video Transcript

Ok welcome to Kansai ben, part 2 ! HD version! I’m really hoping this whole HD thing raises my cool level, cause well you know messing around all day on the internet doesn’t help, unless of course Facebook friends actually start to equal real friends, then, then yeah then I’m gold.

Anyways, let’s get on with the video…

Kansai ben also has different connotations. Or stereotypes if you would. Like most accents or location have associated with them.

Like I live in California, were all movie stars and surfers, as you can tell hahah

Right, Texas, cowboys and… horses, if you live in Texas, you’re either a cowboy or a horse.

Japan also has that.

Kansai people are sometimes said to be the Americans of japan. Since you might have heard, most Japanese people are pretty reserved, polite and not very talkative to strangers.

Kansai peeps are said to be a lot friendlier to strangers, a lil bit louder, and a lil less reserved and distant they open up a lil more…. Kind of like Americas, we open up a lil too much though, we got like all our goods hanging out, but you get the idea.

And two other things kansai dialect is known for, is its comedians and yakuza, kind of a weird combination there.… a lot of standup comedians are kansai, and for some reason a lot of yakuza folks (yakuza means Japanese mafia) speak with a kansai accent.

So if you speak in Kansai ben you’re either funny, or very scary.

Kind of like girlfriends…

Oh no it’s my period….

Hahahahah!!

(Evil stare)

….I’m sorry…

Now in terms of anime, there’s usually always 1 character in ever series, that is the stereotypical kansai character.

Some of the most common examples are

Kyosuke Kawachi from yakitate japan

Shizuru Fujino from MAI Hime

Konno Mitsune from Love Hina

Gin Ichimaru from bleach

Ayumu “Osaka” Kasuga from Azumanga Daioh

Etc.

Now as for the specific vocabulary and accent of kansai ben, I’ll save that for another video.

But for the most part, with this video I wanted quell some worries people might have that Japanese is super complicated with all these dialects. Because if you understand regular Japanese, kansai ben is really not a whole lot different. And you’ll be able to understand what they are saying no problem. If anything it just adds more character and personalization to the language. Which is something I’ve always loved.

Also, its currently 1 week and counting for the new

“What it’s really like in Japan” Video series… so if you haven’t heard I’ll be in Osaka Japan for a month, next week. And I’m planning to shoot a video series/vlog about what it’s really like to be in Japan. So you’re gonna get to see lots of raw, uncut, live footage with just me and you, in Japan about how to get to Japan, How to stay/live there, go to restaurants, shop, and just to give a peek of what it’s really like to live and be in Japan. And give you that amazing experience of achieving the dream of going to Japan without all the cost. It’s going to be really awesome.

And hopefully you’ll learn tons of tricks to not alone surviving, but having the time of your life in Japan. And doing as cost efficiently as possible, because of course I’m gonna teach you all the tricks I know on how to save hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this week’s video, Kansai ben part 2 in HD, see ya later!

Akihabara, Tokyo - Anime Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Akihabara, The Otaku Paradise!

In today's video lesson I show you the mecca of anime and manga in the world, Akihabara, Tokyo.

Here's another link for my Learn Japanese video newsletter to get tons more stuff from me.

Akihabara, Tokyo Video Transcript

Akihabara - The Otaku Paradise

Hey ya’ll, been a while! I’m ken cannon, in case you forgot… you know it’s been a long time I understand.

And today, I here to teach you the top 5 thing to do in Akihabara!

Now you probably already know but it’s pretty much the otaku paradise, if you’re at all into Japanese anime or manga this is a place you must go. It is the number one place in the entire world for anime, manga or otaku. A mecca of otaku, everywhere you walk and literately everything you see in akihabara in plastered with otaku. Tm

Now Akiharaba actually means, field of autumn leaves… So I guess this means you should avoid akihabara in the autumn, because then it just becomes a prairie of compost...

Unless of course you are really into autumn leaves, you can’t get enough of autumn leaves, then yeah by all means.

Anyway, akihabara though, is actually almost always referred to as “akiba” by real Japanese people. Just a shortened version.

Now there is one more name akihabara carries, and that is akihabara denki gai, akihabara electric town. The reason for this is one that actually most people don’t know about. Before about 10 years ago or so akihabara actually was not the otaku paradise, but instead the electronic paradise. Now there’s a lot of electronic stores in akihabara, but today the whole place know much more for its anime ness...

Now mainly akihabara is place dedicated for shopping, or “kaimono” but since it’s really not your everyday average shopping, and there really is just so much there to do and see there, I put this little guide together for you.

So let’s started with the number one thing to do in Akihabara

Anime no kaimono!

Literately, anime shopping! Or as I like to call it buy everything anime!

(Pronunciation guide)

So this one should be pretty easy to understand, akihabara in literately the world center of anime and manga, therefore you can find buy almost any anime or manga ever produced! However that’s not even close to being all, there’s a reason why I said buy anime everything! And that’s because you can literately buy everything that anime here.

For example a tiny variety of what you’ll ill find in akihabara is

Anime drinks, anime, lamps, anime fans, toilets, cars, phones, anime anime, furniture, anime dogs, anime cats, underwear, anime people (blow up doll).

You sure like anime dolls huh?

Dolls?
Oh that’s a cute Pikachu dolls

It’s not a doll. Bottle opener...

Oh….

Hey do mind if I see that (….) doll

*RING* hello? Yeah ok bye…

You mean my phone?

Well what about that.

Well at least, that’s a cute poster…

Poster?

….that’s my bed…. Strange stare….

Now something I find quiet interesting is the whole anime doll phenomenon in akihabara. There are a growing number of stores where you can buy your own anime doll, and accessorize them. And it’s not that it’s weird because it’s not girls who are playing with them, but grown men…. And it’s defiantly not weird that walk around broad daylight with them as if they were there gf…. But it’s the fact that they come if changeable body parts!! You can not only disassemble their shirts hats and shoes, but now you can change their hands feet, and eyeballs! Eyeballs!!

*shudder*

Only in Japan…

In Japanese…

Hi can I have two eyes balls?

Ano, Medama futatsu onegaishimasu!

Hai, medama desu ne, aka to midori medama docchi ga yoroshi desu ka?

Aa, aka medama onegashimasu

Hai kashikomarimashita,

Arigatou gozaimasu!

Hai doumo Arigatou gozaimashita

Oh would you like the re ones or the green ones, oh the red ones please… yes no, problem, here you are, thank you very much!

In English….

Hi can I have two eyes balls?

Strange stare…..

Awkward stare

…The red ones please….

Now with all these anime, manga, and changeable body parts, the most logical question you’re probably asking yourself is… “Ok… where’s all the porn?”

And I’m here to tell you that, you shall definitely not be disappointed with akiba’s selection of dirty DVDs. Theres actually lots of it here… Lots and lots and LOTS!

And they are not your typical snuff...
And I don’t really want to go into too many details... Simply because I don’t want any more nightmares tonight… but it’s not exactly your typical “Hi I’m a plumber and I’m here clean your pipes” stuff, it’s more like, “Hi, I’m an alien with 75 arms, and I brought my own pipes.”

Alright! Moving on to number 2 thing to do in akihabara! And that is…

Game no kaimono

Or literally game shopping!

(Pronunciation guide)

Yet another super obvious one for the average otaku, not to mention being my favorite. But what’s interesting about game shopping in akihabara is that you can pretty much buy every game in Japan there. And if you don’t know there are literality no joke, thousands games produced in japan that never ever make it to English translation. And more being made every day! A lot of these are actually big name chains like dragon warrior and legend of Zelda and Mario. But there are also hundreds of Japanese games... Oh sorry, I mean weird games… haha always get those two words mixed up... Like, train your face! Where you can well, train your face…bartender DS, basically a guide to the various ways to get drunk. and boinga, boinga, a game where to go around poking various people in the boinga boinga … or anus.

Here’s a question for you… I wonder what it would look like if you played all three at the same time…..

(Stumble with bottle making funny faces)

Hm, not that different from normal….

Now in akihabara you can not only buy and play recent cool, never before seen and weird games. But also via an extremely famous retro gaming store, appropriately named, super potato. You can actually buy virtually every single game produced in the history of games. All the way from the original famicon, up to the ps3.

Now you will have to be able to speak Japanese to play most of these games, but here translation scripts can come in handy, and for games like boinga boinga, do you really need to speak the language in order to play.

So with all that said, again, I know I hear you. You must be asking yourself “where’s the porn?”

Well Akiba definitely had you covered there once again. There’s something that is called on dating sim, also called an “adventure game” in Japanese. *wink wink*

Where the goal is basically to woo the anime women into sleeping with you. Now depending on the game there many different ways to do this, but they generally vary from the typical, buying her flowers, throwing soccer balls at here, and even holding her bully at knife point!

So fellows, if you’re having any trouble getting women, you can definitely sharpen your skills, with these bad boys… or your knifes?

Scrapping knife…

What are you doing?

Nani yatte n dayo

Going out the pickup chicks tonight.
Scared stare…

Nanpa no junbi da yo

Want to come?

Isshou ni iku?

No no no… I’m good...

Iya… passu

You sure? I’ve got a spare soccer ball you can use…

sou? Sakka- bo-ru no supea ga arun dakedo na~

Tohoku - The Hidden Japanese Language

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:17:00 +0000

Tohoku-ben, Japan's weirdest dialect

This time I'm featured over on Tofugu's channel and blog to teach you all about Tohoku-ben, a unique Japanese dialect!

For more information on Tohuku-ben and other Japanese dialects sign up for my weekly newsletter!

Tohoku Video Transcript

Hey guys! So my name is Ken Cannon and I’m here on behalf of Koichi and Hashi from Tofugu to teach some Tohoku-ben. Or Tohoku dialect.

Now Tohoku dialect is a dialect of Japanese, of course, otherwise I’m kind of on the wrong blog. But what’s interesting about it, is that it’s hailed as being the hardest dialect to understand. In fact, it’s actually so different from standard Japanese, that even native Japanese speakers often times can’t understand what they’re saying, and actually need subtitles whenever people speaking this dialect appear on TV or in movies.

In particular when I first heard it I didn’t think it sounded anything like Japanese.

So with that said its obviously pointless for us nonnative speakers to even give it a shot, but in an attempt to be rebel and point out the fact that I was I’m joking Let’s get into it!

First Tohoku-ben is spoken in the Tohoku region which extends slightly east of Tokyo and all the up to Hokkaido this little island up here... (Showing map) And to get you really motivated there is actually not just one Tohoku-ben, but about a dozen different versions of it spoken throughout Tohoku. Yay!

Now today in particular we are going to be focusing on Tsugaru-ben, spoken in Aomori, the most north part of Tohoku. And arguably the furthest sounding dialect from actual standard Japanese. I like to start small, obviously…

So let’s get started in this video with the 4 most common Tsugaru ben grammars, or grammar patterns.

1. Ku’s are GU’s!

Or most k sounds in standard Japanese, when said in Tsugaru ben actually become g sounds.

For example… hayaku - fast becomes… hayagu

(Pronunciation)

Now this difference comes from the fact that Tsugaru-ben is kind of famed for its lazy sounding speech, in where the goal is to attempt to move your mouth as least as possible. There is even a common joke about this, that it’s so cold there, that people don’t want to talk.

Skit: fill in later

In fact Tohoku-ben is actually so famous for this it has a bit of a rude nickname... Zuu zuu ben... Because that’s supposedly that’s what its sounds like when Tohoku speakers are talking… also bees

2. Be

Be usage is twofold, one is it stands in place of the volitional form… I.e. ikou… lets go. And it can also stand for darou, or desho. The word probably.

For example, doushiyou, what should I do, becomes… dousube

(Pronunciation)

Now be is probably the most famous grammars of all Tohoku, and yes it is also used throughout the rest of Tohoku. Same with the ku’s are gu’s. Although it may not necessarily mean the same thing.

So if you use be with anyone outside of Tohoku, they will definitely know what dialect you speaking…

(Skit): fill in later

3. Jya

Jya, is used after verbs to make them more forceful. So in that way it is very similar to the particle “yo” or the verbal exclamation point!

For example. Iku yo, I’m going, becomes Igu jya

(Pronunciation)

Now this is not to be confused with the ancient copula jya... Used by samurais and old men in place of da, the standard copula.

Skit: fill in later

4. Ai = ee

Now this refers mostly to negative verbs, and adjectives. You simply exchange any ai endings, with ee.

For example…

Itai…ouch, becomes… itee

(Pronunciation)

This switching of ai with ee, appears in standard Japanese as well. However it is very slangy, and can be kind of rude if said to the wrong person…

Skit: fill in later

Awesome, now that you’ve got the basic grammars down… it’s time to learn some Tsugaru ben vocabs…

So scroll down below and we’ll get into some more of this buzz buzz ben….

(Black screen with text) : Readings of example sentences in blog post below

1. geimusho sa Iganeba maine jya

2. Wa, shinobi da be

3. Na, shinobi jya nee be

Blog Post

So first let’s start with my favorite Tsugaru ben vocab… because of course I’m the only person that matters…

Maine

Maine pretty much equals “dame” or “ikenai”, basically “bad”

So let’s try a buzz buzz ben sentence…

Tsugaru ben: Geimusho sa Iganeba maine jya

Standard Japanese: Geimusho ni ikenakucha ikenai

Break down: Prison, to, if don’t go, bad

English: I got to go to prison/ If I don’t go prison it’ll be bad

Next, the two most common Tsugaru be words.

Wa and na

Respectively, I, and you. These come from, watashi, and anata… for lazy people.

Example:

a)

Tsugaru: Wa, shinobi da be

Standard Japanese: Watashi wa shinobi darou

Breakdown: I, ninja, am, probably

English: I’m probably a ninja

b)

Tsugaru: Na, shinobi jya nee be

Standard JP: Anata wa shinobi jya nai deshou

Breakdown: You, ninja, not, probably

English: You’re probably not a ninja

3rd most common vocabs

Nda or nda ga

Nda equals “sou desu” or “that’s right”

And nda ga is “sou desu ka” = is that so/really?

Example:

a)

Tsugaru ben: Nda, wa, megoi jya

Standard JP: So da, watashi wa kawaii yo

Breakdown: That’s right, I, cute, !

English: That’s right, I’m cute!

b)

Tsugaru ben: Nda ga? Koichi-san, jikko ga?

Standard JP: Sou desu ka? Koichi-san wa ojiisan ka?

Breakdown: Really? Koichi, Mr., grandpa?

English: Really? Koichi is a grandpa?

And for our last Tsugaru ben for the day…

Da hande or just hande

Which equals, dakara or because/therefore

Example:

Tsugaru Ben: Wa, sexy da hande, hashi-san, wa no godo ni agogareru jya

Standard JP: watashi wa sexy dakara, hashi-san wa watashi no koto ni akogareru yo!

Breakdown: I, sexy, am, therefore, hashi, the idea of me, yearns.

English: Because I’m sexy, hashi yearns for me.

Alright that’s all for this post, hope you guys enjoyed it and I’ll hope to see you around Tohoku sometime!

And a big thanks to Tofugu for having me teach about tohoku ben!

How to Say Hello in Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:21:00 +0000

How to say "Hello" in Japanese

Hello is one of the first things you say to a new person, so to help you make a great first impression here's how to say hello in Japanese!

To learn more Japanese greetings head over to my newsletter for new weekly videos!

Video Transcript

Hey welcome to my first video in like 12 years, sorry to keep you waiting, but I've really had a lot of good excuses. Some I'm even pretty proud of; it took me a while to come up with them too. But to spare to guys the shame of a chronic procrastinator I’ll just jump into today's lesson.

Today I’m gonna be talking about, how to say hello in Japanese.

Ok I know you're probably thinking two things,

one, what kind of teacher teaches how to swear before he teaches how to say hello.

And two, since when did he get so damn boring?

Ok, well the reason I’m teaching you this now is that in anime, drama, or manga, which is what I focus this channel towards, they don’t really greet each other all that much. In fact greetings are boring, which is why everybody knows that cussing is much more useful.

Ok I’m kidding, but today what I want to teach is 10 different ways to say hello.

Because just like in English, there’s hello, but theres also, what's up, how's it going, how's your mama, there's many different ways to greet each other in Japanese. And I’ve come up with the top ten ways. I know I do like my top tens, it just sounds so much more official than, uh yea dude, heres some different ways to say hello…

Number 1 way!

Ohaiyo!

This actually means good morning, but in Japan this is the general term you use to greet people all the way up till 11. Unfortunately I never get to use this one since I usually wake up around 3…

(Pronunciation guide)

Now if you wanna get fancy, you can add "gozaimasu" to the end of this. To make ohaiyo gozaimasu. Saying it this way is more formal, so you'd generally use it with, teachers, seniors or anyone you'd want to impress…

Ohaiyo gozaimasu!! Miley!

(Picture of Miley Cyrus)

Ok number 2

Konnichiwa!

Now this is the term you use from 11 to about 6, so you could equate it to the English good afternoon.

(Pronunciation guide)

This one also has a cute lil variation, koncha! Its really more like a contraction of sorts, created from people saying konnichiwa really fast. This is something you’d use if you’re an 8 year old girl, (picture of fat man)

OK number 3

Konbanwa,

Here it is, I know you’ve been waiting for it, this is what you use anywhere from 6 to… well, bed time, or well, whenever the naked girl in the cake goes home.

(Pronunciation guide)

This one is a bit formal, so like "gozaimasu" youd use it when you want to impress someone. When you might use this is when your like going over to meet a girl's parents or something.

Konbanwa! Miley no otosan! (picture of fat man)

And here we have number 5

Moshi moshi!

This one is a lot closer to the actually English “hello,” since this is strictly used on the phone!

(pronunciation guide)

Now the legend goes that this phrase was developed by the Japanese to keep foxes from calling them, because as everybody knows, foxes can’t say moshi moshi. I mean come on.

“moshi moshi”

“Hora, moshi moshi wo ittemi” ne, moshi moshi” give phone to cat

“Hora ne, kitsuni tte baka dakara”

Alright on to Number 6

Yoroshiku!

Ok im a liar, yoroshiku doesn’t mean hello, it actually means something like “give me your best regards” which is so much simpler..

“Pronunciation guide”

Now just like ohaiyo, you can add a formality to the end of it to make it well… more formal. Onegaishimasu. However since this is such a weird word, I’ll give you a couple examples of when you’d want to “give them their best regards”

I'm a new student here, yoroshiku

Lets make this the best lemonade stand ever guys! Yoroshiku

Im a new employee here, yoroshiku

OK on to number 7

Ossu!

This one is used for more tough guys, kinda like an english "yo." It’s also used a lot by guys who do judo and stuff.

(Pronunciation guide)

Apparently this came from people saying, ohaiyogozaimasu really fast. And then it just got shortened. But now it's used for anytime of the day among other equally tough guys.

Picture of Sakura, and chikan.

This also has several little variations: ussu, wiiss. But all mean the same and just said for cool purposes.

Number 8!

Domo!

This can also mean thank you, and yes it’s the domo from Domo Arigato Mr. Robato. But you can also use this as a greeting, it definetly has an air of formality. I probably wouldn’t use this with my friend, but it’s not as stuffy as adding gozaimasu or onegaishimasu.

So I suppose formality wise it fits in about here….

(hard gay)

Number 9!

This is for the cool guys, definitely wouldn’t use this with your teacher. So basically it works just like the English "yo," with a bit more of a drawn out tone.

(Pronunciation guide)

"Yo" is also a sentence ender particle, meaning you can stick it at the end of a sentence to make a verbal exclaimation point.

Watch out Yo!!!

(Abunai yo)

Nande..

Chikan..

Ahh!

Ok and number 10

Yaa

This is probably the least common, but you wil hear it, especially amoung… fruitier characters? Ok whatever the oppsitie of tough guy is that doesnt make me sound like a jackass…

(Pronunciation guide)

So like I said it's used amoung more fruitier charcters, so basically people like this guy…

(ken cannon) yaaa…

Alright! That was it for the top ten ways to say hello in Japanese, as always thanks for all your support and you can also go over to Japanese Through Anime, there should be a link in the down bar for a bunch more greeting and hello related words.

Anime Fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 29 May 2011 03:28:00 +0000

Hey everybody I’m Heather and Ken asked to put up a post so I decided to combine two of my passions, anime and fashion. Inspiration for fashion can come from anywhere and I want to show how to transform iconic pieces from some popular anime characters into items that people can wear on a regular basis.

1. Hunter x Hunter-Mito’s choker

Mito sporting a cable choker

Similar cable bracelet

Cho-ka (チョーカー) - Choker

In Hunter x Hunter, Gon’s aunt, Mito, constantly wears this unique green choker. I was immediately drawn to it because it’s not your typical necklace. First of all, it’s green instead of your typical silver or gold and second instead of a thin, dainty chain it has a thick, strong open cable. I stumbled across this David Yurman bracelet and thought it was be the perfect duplicate for Mito’s choker. Although it is a bracelet instead of a choker, the overall aesthetic is the same.

2. Hunter x Hunter- Kurapica’s chains

Kurapica's Chain Weapons

Less Deadly Chain Jewelry

Kusari (鎖) - Chain(s)

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of girls wearing bracelets with chains that connect to a ring or two,
or even three or four, like the one Kurapica, in Hunter x Hunter wears. Kurapica was sporting
these chains, albeit for a different purpose, long before it was fashionable. Although in
reality, these jewelry pieces do not double as weapons, they have an edgy and tough look to
them.

3. One Piece- Luffy’s straw hat

The Infamous Straw Hat

Similar Straw Fedora

Mugi wara boshi (麦わら帽子) - Straw hat

Luffy from One Piece is known for his courage, carefreeness, rubber body and straw hat. Straw
hats are especially nice in the summer because they are lightweight and breathable so your
head won’t get too hot or sweaty. I am an especially big fan of the fedora shape because it looks
flattering on pretty much anyone while providing some valuable sun protection.

4. Pokemon- Ash’s fingerless gloves

Ash's Fingerless Gloves

"Gym" Gloves

Tebukuro (手袋) - Gloves

The one thing more famous than Ash Ketchum is his costume. These gloves are most commonly
seen in the gym and used for weight and cardio training. It makes sense that Ash would like to
wear these gloves seeing as he is a Pokemon trainer and is constantly dueling it out in gym battles. You can buy a pair of these gloves at your local gym or sports equipment store, or you can even cut
up a pair of old gloves to get the same effect.

5. Yugi-oh- Duke’s earring

Duke's lucky dice earring

DIY dice earring inspiration

Iyaringu (イヤリング) - Earring

Duke, from Yugi-oh, is one of my favorite characters from the show, not just for his personality but also for his unique sense of style. One of my favorite pieces that he wears is his dice earring. It is very symbolic of his love for chance, and not to mention it looks pretty cool. Although, it is possible to buy dice earrings, oftentimes they can be too fancy and ornate, like the rhinestone encrusted pair shown above, and too expensive. In fact, these are actually quite easy to make. All you need would be a pair of dice, a couple of little hook-eye screws, some earring posts and several inches of chain. These can all be found at your local craft store. Basically all you have to do is screw the hook-eyes into the dice, attach one end of the chain to the screw and the other to the earring post and voila, dice earrings for less than $10!

Thanks to Heather for this great guest post! For more great anime related content, subscribe to my newsletter for weekly videos.

One Piece Vocabulary

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 07:03:00 +0000

Awesome, time for another episode of anime vocabulary, featuring One Piece! At one point the most downloaded anime on the internet. Crazies...

So lets get started!

Straw Hat Pirate

Kaizoku (海賊) - Pirate

This is probably the most obvious word, so I'll start with that. It's used crazy a lot. I mean the main character wants to be the "Kaizoku Ou" (pirate king) and all... I'm actually working on this goal myself, but alas Limewire had to mess up all my plans!

Merry sailing the seas

Umi (海) - Sea

You can't have a pirate show without one of these, "umi" is actually a special word that means both beach and sea. It doesn't actually mean beach but when you would want to say in English... "Hey my homies, let's go to the beach todayz" You would actually use the word "umi", in Japanese.

Their first boat- Merry

Fune (船) - Boat

Another big hitter in this series, and definitely a must for the future pirate king, I mean you can't be a pirate king and drive a Camry, that's just not cool.

Rubber Man

Gomu (ゴム) - Rubber

This word is also short for eraser, "Keshi Gomu"... and yes it is slang for another slightly less reusable "rubber" in Japan as well....

Chopper in his reindeer form

Tonakai (トナカイ) - Reindeer

Probably the most useless word possible outside of this anime, so you know I have to teach it... but also I really like the way it sounds... tonakai... tonakai... yeah baby....

But surprisingly this word is kind of common in the anime, since Chopper is always correcting people that he is not in fact a "tanuki."

Zorro's triple swords

Kenshi (剣士) - Swordsman

Ahhh finally a more useful word in everyday life... but no all jokes aside this word is actually somewhat common in anime in general, so yup good to know.

A rocky island

Shima (島) - Island

Theres definitely a lot of "shima's" in One Piece, not to mention the fact that all of Japan is one big giant "shima".

Nami the girl

Nami the wave

Nami (波) - Wave

The word for wave, and the name of a character! As you know I love killing two stones with one bird. You may also recognize this word as part of the now English word, "tsu-nami" or tidal wave. "Tsu" in this case means harbor. It's a wave that hits harbors! Yay!

A Marine ship

Kaigun (海軍) - Navy/Marine

This word actually just means "navy" or a military's "sea force" where as "marines" is just a portion of the navy. But ah well, its not the first time I've seen a little Engrish in Japan.

The Gomu Gomu Fruit

Akuma no mi (悪魔の実) - Devil Fruit

Why can't these be part of a healthy, nutritious diet? Pretty simple phrase though, "akuma" means devil... or my grandma... and "mi" means fruit. Although the proper way to say "fruit" in Japanese is "kudamono", "mi" can actually mean fruit, nut or seed.

The Straw Hat Pirate's Jolly Roger

Mugi wara (麦藁) - Wheat Straw

This is the word that is often translated as "Straw hat" in the anime.. because it might be a little weird if everybody went around calling Luffy, "wheat straw".... well in English anyway.

A 55 million bounty

Shoukin (賞金) - Bounty

Ignoring the ugly dude in the picture, this is what all those shoukin kasegi's (bounty hunter's) are after in the series. This word can also mean prize money or something of that nature.

Whew, One Piece had a lot. For more anime vocabulary sign up for my newsletter, yarou domo (and yes a captain indeed calls his crew his fellow bastards)!

Bleach Vocabulary

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:20:00 +0000

I've been wanting to start a series of blog posts teaching certain anime series' "specific vocabulary words". Words that, if you are learning Japanese, you just can't do without if you're watching that show. And of course, they're not your typical textbook material.

So starting off with one of the biggest series out there, Bleach.

Ichigo

Shinigami (死神) - Death God/Soul Reapers

This word is the most obvious, and as a result, most of you may already know of it. It's made up of the kanji 死 (shi) or death and the kanji for god 神 (kami).

This is a somewhat recently popular mystical character and you can find other verisions in the series Death Note, Full Moon Wo Sagashite, and Soul Eater.

Yes, souls are shiny

Tamashii (魄) - Soul

Souls are to Bleach as toilet paper is to a toilet, you can't have one without the other.

Exploding "Reiatsu"

Reiatsu (霊圧) - Spiritual Pressure

Not really a real word in Japan, but since its used so much in Bleach I had to include it. Think of Chakra in Naruto.

Sharp Ken

Another sharp "ken"

Ken (剣) = ME/Sword

Yes my name also means sword, which is why I’m so sharp (oh, oh, see what I did there?)

Anyways, "zanpakutou" (斬魄刀) is what most people in bleach call their sword, literally - "soul-cutter sword", but they will use the word for sword as well so you should know it.. or maybe I just wanted to show off my mildly, really, actually, not all that cool, name...

Captain of the 13th Squad

Taichou (隊長) - Captain

Probably the most spoken Bleach specific word. Everybody loves to talk to about their "Taichou."

9th Division Lieutenant

Fuku Taichou (副隊長) - Vice captain / Lieutenant

Probably the 2nd most spoken Bleach specific word, everybody also loves to talk about their "Fuku-Taichou"... but not as not much as their "taichou"... but still quite a lot... ok yeah that's enough..

Ichigo's Hollow Mask

Kamen (仮面) - Mask

You’ll hear this word a lot in the Visored episodes, since people tend to have a lot of masks there.

The 13 Divisions

___ ban tai (番隊) - Divisions/Squads

So For example...

1st division = Ichi ban tai

Ichi = 1
Ban= “#” sign
Tai = Division

So you simply replace the ____ with the number of the division you're in.

Ichi- 1
Ni- 2
San- 3
Yon - 4
Go - 5
Roku - 6
Shichi - 7
Hachi - 8
Kyuu - 9
Jyuu - 10
Juu ichi - 11
Juu ni - 12
Juu san - 13

So that's it for now, for more Bleach related content come over to my newsletter.

Remembering The Kanji by James Heisig

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:45:00 +0000

My secret to memorizing Kanji

I’m here with a new blog post on Kanji (there’s also a new vid and newsletter on the way) and I thought what better way to start then with a review of one of the greatest Japanese learning devices there is! Uh oh, did I just give away the rating? Anyway, on with it…

What this book, "Remembering the Kanji" does is simply amazing, and its method is extremely different. The author, James Heisig, recognized that Chinese learners of Japanese have an unfair advantage since they already know the meanings of the characters, even if they don’t yet know the pronunciation. And their learning speed is incredible, most times learning all necessary 2,000 characters in less than 6 months.

So he discovered a way to bring the same advantage to English learners. By breaking over 2,000 characters into less than 100 common pieces called primaries, he then used mnemonic devices to tie them together. Mnemonic devices are pretty much God’s gift to language learners, basically stories using the image creating part of the brain to remember the primaries and characters.

Whew… I feel like I wrote that last paragraph without taking a breath. Anyway, that’s the good stuff, back when I used the method I was able to crank out about 50 characters into my brain a day, and learned all essential 2,000 in about a month or 2. Of course my results are unique because I’m a learning freak, but most everyone else who has tried this method has had similar results.

Now for the bad news, you actually must purchase the second book to learn how to pronounce the 2,000 characters you learned. (Which means in the mean time you really can't read much, at least not in the normal way) And the second book isn’t nearly as revolutionary as the first, and can take anywhere from a couple months to a year to complete. I personally didn’t have a problem because at that point I had already learned most of the spoken language, and was able to connect the pronunciations rather quickly. Especially since I read manga quiet often ^^.

The price is relatively no problem, about 30 bucks per book. Not including the 3^rd book, which covers an additional 1,000 characters, which aren’t that essential, (at least it wasn’t for my purposes, average newspaper, manga, and book reading.) you’ll spend about 40 to 60 dollars.

I should also mention if you aren’t familiar, Kanji is the most feared subject Japanese has to offer, one that most gaijin (foreigners living in Japan) never even master. And following any normal method is said to take about 4 years for all 2,000 on average.

Now this method isn’t for everyone, in fact I’ve seen quite a bit of debate surrounding this book, even Koichi of Tofugu doesn’t agree with me here. But I consider this book one of my Japanese secret weapons, and therefore give it a very sexy...

8.5/10

For more Kanji help and tips subscribe to my weekly newsletter.

Japanese Particles

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:34:00 +0000

Ok continuing from last time, we have our sentences properly ordered now and all we have to do to make them into complete sentences is stick on our particles, or what I like to call them “markers”. Because they “mark” the words in a sentence as a subject or object ect.

I, people, punch = ore, hito naguru

I, feet, love = ore, ashi, suki

I’m, to the toilet, going = Ore, toire, iku

I‘ll, this, to you, give = ore, kore, omae, ageru

This, cool, is = kore, kakkoi, da

For those of you who don’t know what particles are yet, here is a quick description of the main 5.

Wa –topic marker (marks what you are talking "about", almost always comes first)

Ga – capital marker (emphasizes a certain word, marks "this" as opposed to something else)

Wo – object marker (marks “thing/person” of sentence, almost always comes second)

Ni – towards marker (marks when something is moving towards something)

E – destination marker (marks where your going)

You can also think of particles as marking the word that came before it as a certain part of the sentence. And how the sentence handles the word.

Let’s start with the first one

Ore(I), hito(people), naguru(punch)

Ore(I)- wa

We use the generic marker “wa” here, since we don’t want to particularly emphasize I’m the one who punches people, as opposed to somebody else. And a little tip is we almost always use “wa” to start with.

Hito(people)-wo

We use the object marker “wo” here since people, are the objects we're punching. Now we could use “ga” here, if we wanted to stress the fact that it’s people, that we punch, as opposed to dogs or something.

So the complete Japanese sentence that comes out is

オレは人を殴る!

Ore-wa hito-wo naguru! = I punch people!

Ok how about the next sentence.

Ore(I), ashi(feet), suki(love)

Ore(I)- wa

Again we use “wa” after I

Ashi(feet)-ga

In this sentence I chose to use ga, instead of wo. So that you can tell that both are correct, and that now this sentence emphasizes that its, feet! I love as opposed to something else

This comes out to…

Ore-wa ashi-ga suki! = I love FEET!

Time for sentence number 3

Ore(I), toire(toilet), iku(go)

First of all you’ll notice, word for word, the “to” and the “the” are gone. This is because there is no “the” in Japanese, which makes things a lot easier. And “to” we will add now.

Ore(I)-wa

Yet again ore is marked by “wa” I told you it almost always comes first.

Toire(toilet)-e

(this is the "to") Ok e is used here, because we are going to the toilet as a destination, I could use “ni” as well, but with “ni” it just mean I’m going towards the toilet, which is cool to say in Japan btw. I just wanted to show you how e was used.

So…

オレはトイレへ行く

Ore-wa toire-e iku! I’m going to the toilet!

Next we have…

ore(I), kore(this), omae(you), ageru(give)

ore(I)-wa

no surprise here.

Kore-wo

Wo is used because kore(this) is what were giving to you, it’s the object.

Omae(you)-ni

We use “ni” because we’re giving kore(this) to/towards you. You don’t use e, because you are not a destination, simply a direction.

Dun du dun…

オレはこれをお前にあげる

Ore-wa kore-wo omae-ni ageru = I’m giving this to you

And last but not least we have…

Kore(this), kakkoi(cool), da(is)

Kore(this)- wa

Wa is used for the usual reasons, or of couse “ga” could be used.

Kakkoi(cool)- none!

Simply because kakkoi is an adjective, in other words a description. And descriptions can’t go anywhere nor do you normally talk about “cool” or descriptions as topic.

Another reason is that da is a special verb called a copula, which means it’s not an action like other verbs, but means “to be” or “is”.

これはかっこいだ

OK hopefully that cleared up a lot of confusion you might be having, again this is a work in progress, and not meant for people who know nothing about Japanese, but as a supplement for those currently studying.

Until next time!

Previous Post in Series

Japanese Grammar

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:24:00 +0000

Have you ever been completely confused by what freaking order you put the words in a sentence?

I have been getting a lot of questions about this recently, So I thought I’d attempt to address it in a simpler way. (please bare with me as this is a work in progress heh)

A part of the problem lies in that Japanese sentence order is completely counter intuitive to what we’re used to.

Some people describe it as backwards, but completely scrambled is a bit closer to the truth (see now doesn’t that make you feel better?)

Ok I’m kidding, it’s not “completely” scrambled, but it is a real toughie for most learners.

Now what most teachers/books/programs try to do is either ignore this fact, and try to teach people standard cookie cutter like sentences. Until they get used to how it’s used.

Or, they attempt to break down the students understanding of how grammar/sentence order works in general (how they have used English), and kind of build an entirely new Japanese grammar base from which to work.

Now both methods are effective, but often times with varying results, and sometimes much frustration.

So I’m gonna try to do something a little different, and link up what you already know about English grammar/sentence order to Japanese grammar.

So to get started here’s a typical English sentence.

I punch people!

Very simple sentence. Now the trick to turning this sentence into Japanese is you have to be able to find the “verb” in the sentence. If you don’t know, the verb is basically “what’s going on” or “the action” in the sentence. In this sentence, what’s obviously going on is the “punching”

So what you do, is you simply grab the “verb”, take it out, and stick it at the back of the sentence.

So “I punch people” = Becomes = “I, people, punch!”

In Japanese this is “Ore, hito, naguru”

Let’s try another sentence.

I love feet! = I, feet, love (ore, ashi, suki)

How about this one?

I’m going to the toilet = I’m, to the toilet, going (Ore, toire, iku)

I’ll give this to you = I‘ll, this, to you, give (ore, kore, omae, ageru)

This is cool = This, cool, is (kore, kakkoi, da)

So as you can see from the above examples the main concept is that all you have to do is take the verb out, and stick it at the end of the sentence, nothing else really matters. (in terms of sentence order anyway)

Now if you’re already studying Japanese you might be asking, what about particles?

And you’d be right on track, because that is what I’ll discuss in tomorrow’s post =)

*Another note is that this formula of sorts does not work with question sentences, such as “what time is it?” Or “Where is that little leprechaun” And those I will address tomorrow as well.

Next Post in Series

How To Write In Japanese - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sat, 22 May 2010 10:28:00 +0000

Alright so since last time I told you all I’d give you more info on how all this squiggly line business works. So this is the second part of my intro to the Japanese writing system.

Ok so this is a typical Japanese sentence.

ロシアが攻撃している! = the Russians are attacking!

Now you’ll of course notice that there’s a whole mess of different characters in there. Hiragana, katakana and even kanji.

Now why is this? Wouldn’t be a bajillion times easier to just type all this mumbo jumbo in one writing system?

Well the answer is yes and no.

First of all because of the major remodeling of the characters the Japanese did, kanji alone couldn’t handle the task of carrying the Japanese language, so this lead to the development to the kana systems.

But then since there were no concept of the space in Japan (that’s why it’s so crowded over there…)

Just kana was too hard to read

Imeancomeonifitypedlikethisallthetimeit’d
probablysuckprettybadhuh?

And at the same time kanji, in itself became sort of a status symbol. Basically the more you knew, the smarter you were. And as stupid as this sounds, just look at English.

Why else do the words, glad, gay, joyful, cheerful, delighted, jovial and exultant exist?

Good lord, just say you’re happy!

And so that is where the games begun, now rumor has it you only need to learn about 2,000 kanji to read a typical newspaper (that’s reassuring…) but fortunately most shounen manga have something called furigana.

And furigana are little kana characters above the kanji that help with reading, basically so you can sound it out instead of knowing the kanji. Which is pretty cool, it helped me be able to read manga before I even knew any kanji. Now the downside is you read a bit slower than normal, but hey that you can savory the manga! Mmm tasty Naruto… (haha corny puns ftw)

Now one more thing about kanji, just in case you haven’t pulled your hair out yet. Is that typically for each kanji there are at least two different ways to read them. And they go by the names

Kun yomi – Japanese reading

And...

On yomi – Chinese reading

Now since I’m assuming most of you don’t know any kanji yet, basically just remember that this makes your life suck more =) (aren’t you glad you dropped in for this positive, uplifting blog post)

Now, as much as most people complain about kanji being the reason they're husband left them, with the right strategy they really aren’t that bad. In fact I had a blast while learning them!

But of course you need this super secret cool tool/book. Butt (_l_), since I’m cool, I’ll tell you about it in my next newsletter, so sign up! And I’ll see you next time!

How To Write In Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Fri, 21 May 2010 06:56:00 +0000

Are the Japanese, thieves?

Ok I want to make this as basic as possible for people who really don’t know what the hell is going on with all those squiggly lines.

Now as this obviously doesn’t serve much of a purpose for anime, it is important if you’re fond of Manga. And in general I believe all learners of Japanese even if they only wish to learn for anime purposes should learn to write. Simply because the Japanese writing system has some wicked awesome insights to the actual spoken language, for instance why you say certain things, plus it just looks cool, and you can laugh at your friends when they get a tattoo that says something that they didn’t want it to.

Alright to break it down the Japanese have 3 different writing system (don’t get happy yet, it gets better)

First they have an alphabet of 46 like we do that spell/sound things out.

Hiragana = ひらがな

Second, they have a second version of the same exact alphabet. (the Japanese are real efficiency experts…)

Katakana = カタカナ

The reason for this is that Japanese apparently were even more sexist than me at one point (I’m just kidding, I was always more sexist)

So the hiragana being more curvy and cursive in appearance was adopted by women, where the more “official” katakana was reserved for the obviously superior men.

And then a couple hundred years later men realized that they couldn’t make women be with them by sticking a giant samurai sword to their throat anymore, and that they had to actually be nice to them (I still have my samurai sword though… just in case…) So they let them use their writing system.

Anyways, then there’s the third writing system, the dreaded....

Kanji　= 漢字

The Kanji are actually stolen Chinese characters (Now you know the real purpose of the ninja, writing system robbers!)

Ok, the real history of how the Japanese started using the Chinese character is actually shrouded in mystery because the records for this time period… well didn’t exist (this was before they stole the characters remember?)

And in the process of this grand thievery the Japanese had to change a lot of the meanings and pronunciations of the characters. So in essence they effectively made the two thousand plus blobs of lines even more confusing.

Now the hiragana and katakana I talked about earlier are simplified versions of the original Chinese characters. Or it might be better to say they are kanji “inspired. Since they are nothing like them anymore and only resemble them in appearance.

And as I said the hiragana and katakana are an alphabet of sorts like in English. The kanji on the other hand actually have no sounds attached to them and can’t be sounded out. So you won’t be seeing any "Hooked on Phonics" – Kanji Edition.

Instead each one has a unique meaning attached to them, and the way to pronounce them changes on what other characters are around them, and the situation.

So in case you’re wondering, yes there is a katakana, hiragana, and a kanji version to pronounce every single word in the Japanese dictionary. However nowadays katakana is mainly used to depict English "loan" words (..they call them loan words because they don't want another repeat of the kanji incident..)

As for the reason for this ancient torture method and exactly how it all works, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow, since I haven’t slept since last week and my eyes are starting to bleed.

:'( (…that’s not a tear…)

Let's Learn Japanese Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:09:00 +0000

Ok to finish off this review marathon of sorts, I will be reviewing my favorite language learning method! And as you can see above that is none other than the famous Let’s Learn Japanese Basic 1985 TV Series! *cue trumpets*

Ok so maybe this isn’t the most “popular” Japanese Language Learning method, but this retro TV show has enjoyed a fairly prominent cult like following among Japanese language learners.

But down to what matters right? How does it perform? Well as much as I’d like to sing this show’s praises, it does have its flaws.

First of all it’s old, and if you’ve ever seen my Japanese pronouns video, then you’ll know that being old is very easy to make fun of. The show is filled with countless corny (and I mean corny like a prescription from Dr. Scholls corny) cheesy jokes and skits. Of course I’m a sucker for bad jokes so I actually ended up liking the show even more. But seeing as my taste in humor is a bit… off, shall we say. For normal people this becomes a turn off.

Other than that the graphics and quality for the show are severely lacking, and a lot of the cultural stuff is outdated.

So that’s the bad news, now for the good news. The learning method of this program is one I myself follow to a great extent. And in my opinion works quite well, specifically the use of “memorable” skits to ensure memorization. (…boy that sounds stupid...)

But in any event, you basically kick back and watch the 30 minute episodes, and learn. For fans of anime or drama this, I mean come on, this is what we do best! =D

The show incorporates the use of repetition, visual and audio stimuli to assist in the learning process and all in all just keeps your attention with the constant change of scenery. (The different stages + skits ect.)

Pronunciation: Pretty good, but clearly not its strong point

Vocabulary: Limited to a core foundation, but about double Pimsleur.

Grammar : Very good! Through the use of examples this show trumps all others.

Cost: You’d be troubled to find this program for purchase but if you did it wouldn't cost you more than 50 bucks. (Another benefit of being old… you’re cheap!)

Ease of use: Incredibly

Cheesy : Off the charts

All in all despite its setbacks my favorite language learning program gets an 8/10

Well thats my review, I'd really honestly love to hear from you. If you have or have used Let's Learn Japanese Basic I'd be really grateful if you could go ahead and put your input below. Rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and hopefully we can get a bit of a discussion going on here.

Genki Japanese Textbook Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 16 May 2010 07:47:00 +0000

Now on to something a little different than the last few reviews, a book! And not just any book, as I’ve mentioned in other posts, Genki is a rather famous textbook, used in most classrooms across America. How does this guy fair up against the other visual and audio giants, like Rosetta stone and Pimsleur? Pretty good actually! Genki covers all the bases the other two miss and then some.

It’s very well organized and very thorough, after finishing they’re two volumes you will be quiet well versed in most everyday Japanese. The grammar explanations are very well explained, and the book includes so very much for so very little, only costing about 40 bucks. However that doesn’t mean that this book will leave you anywhere near fluent nor is getting through the book a very easy task itself.

Genki, being a textbook, is pretty boring (in fact even if it wasn’t a textbook it would still be very boring, , not sure why they named it genki…) The stories and exercises are quiet monotonous and non-stimulating .

In addition to that, books in general aren’t very good at teaching how to speak a language, simply because… books can’t speak.

The amount of vocabulary in this thing is quiet impressive, however I found it to also be very random. And honestly pretty useless to a beginner, in the first lesson they teach you the word for “economics major”? Seriously?

But you can read more about that stuff over here.

Now despite all this Genki is still my favorite choice for a textbook , as it is for 20,000 middle aged women across America (…teachers..).

This is of course not including Tae Kim’s grammar guide, which is not really a book, but more an online guide (a very thorough online guide) (oh, did I mention it was free?:))

Anyway in closing, Genki textbook gets a 7/10

Thats is of course just my review, I'd really love to hear from you. If you have or have used The Genki textbook I'd be really grateful if you could go ahead and put your input below. Rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and hopefully we can get a bit of a discussion going on here.